County officials suggested Saturday that residents use the North Cross Valley Expressway and the Pierce Street and Carey Avenue bridges when returning home. The eastbound lanes of the Pierce Street Bridge, though, were closed Saturday night for maintenance. County Commissioner Stephen A. Urban suggested folks take their time returning home Saturday to avoid congestion if they believe their home was unaffected.

"It's like everybody getting off at work at the same time and trying to come into the city," Urban said, "Plan accordingly. Maybe stay for the meal with your relatives."

County Flood Protection Authority Director Jim Brozena said the initial damage estimate was $6 million. He said roughly 500 properties were affected.

"That number will probably grow as we finalize the counts with the municipalities," Brozena said.

Bekanich and county officials urged residents to take precautions as they began to clean and said they will work to provide any resources they can.

Bekanich urged people to wear masks and rubber gloves while cleaning because of the putrid flood waters.

"At this point, we don't know exactly what's mixed in," Bekanich said. "There's raw sewage, there's the potential for petroleum products from home heating oil - things of that nature - that may be mixed in with the flood waters."

Carol Mikols, 62, of Exeter, was found dead in the basement of a West Pittston home on Friday. Luzerne County Coroner John P. Corcoran determined the cause of death was due to breathing in an unknown gas and expressed concern that some folks might be exposed to something similar.

"We want to caution everyone going back into their homes to pump water out of their cellars that something could be in their basement," Corcoran said.

As residents began dumping destroyed furniture and belongings on the curb for disposal, Bekanich urged residents to document everything in preparation for inspections by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"Make sure that you document anything that is damaged, anything that you do," Bekanich said. "Folks should not wait to be inspected by FEMA, but they need to document extensively what has occurred... Lots of photographs, any documents, receipts that they have."

Urban said the county was working to secure low-interest disaster relief loans for residents through the Small Business Administration and was asking congressmen to fight for federal funding.

"We are going to do everything we can to assist you - along with state, federal and local officials - to speed the transition for the cleanup," Urban said. "...We had assurances from Sen. (Pat) Toomey and Sen. (Bob) Casey yesterday that they will do everything they can to release federal funds for us. We look forward to working with them and helping them keep that commitment to us."

Bekanich said they anticipated more information mid-week on whether additional funds would be available.

"We are hoping that we will have word by midweek as to whether or not additional resources will be brought to bear," Urban said, "and we'll have an idea as far as what type of federal assistance we are going to be offered in this area."

Shortly after 1 p.m., the river measured 30.5 feet and projections indicated the river would drop below 28 feet around 8 p.m. Saturday. Brozena has said officials would feel much more comfortable when the river recedes to 28 feet.

While there were some issues with the levee system, Brozena said it worked well and prevented an estimated $3 billion dollars in additional damage. He and engineers from the Army Corps of Engineers will assess damage to the levee early next week and make any necessary repairs.

"I can tell you one thing," Brozena said, "this week when we needed it, (the levee) did what it needed to do."

psweet@citizensvoice.com, 570-763-9704

We welcome user discussion on our site, under the following guidelines:

To comment you must first create a profile and sign-in with a verified DISQUS account or social network ID. Sign up here.

Comments in violation of the rules will be denied, and repeat violators will be banned. Please help police the community by flagging offensive comments for our moderators to review. By posting a comment, you agree to our full terms and conditions. Click here to read terms and conditions.